Press Club leaders criticize closing of Bangladeshi opposition newspaper

National Press Club President Eileen O’Reilly and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Gil Klein on Sunday criticized a decision last week by the Bangladeshi government to revoke the printing license of the opposition newspaper Dainik Dinkal.

O'Reilly and Klein said in a statement that the decision "smacks of political retaliation, insecurity, and intolerance for dissenting views."

The government-funded Bangladesh Press Council offered "specious grounds" for its decision to close the paper less than a year before Bangladesh's national elections, the club leaders said. O'Reilly and Klein called it "an attack not only on press freedom but also on the rights of all Bangladeshi citizens to access a range of reporting and opinions to inform their voting decisions."

“We applaud the Media Freedom Coalition, which includes the United States and 50 other members, for also taking a stance against this newspaper shutdown and urge the Awami League-led Bangladeshi government and the Bangladesh Press Council to reverse course and allow Dainik Dinkal to resume its operations," the statement said. "Such an action would send a reassuring signal to Bangladeshis and the international community that the Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will abide by democratic principles surrounding free and fair elections.”